In the spotlight: mourning in Ivory Coast
Audio 05:05
Hamed Bakayoko died on March 10, 2021, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara announced © AFP / Thomas Samson
By: Norbert Navarro
10 mins
Publicity
A whole country mourns its Prime Minister, Hamed Bakayoko, who died at the age of 56.
In the kiosks, the tribute continues and grows.
Just a number to take the measure of grief and mourning in Côte d'Ivoire: the number eleven.
It is that of the pages, nothing less, that the daily
L'Intelligent d'Abidjan
devotes to Hamed Bakayoko this morning
, which has twelve in all!
As the independent newspaper
L'Inter
underlines in a front page
, Ivorians are "
in shock
".
Close to power, the daily
Le Patriote
publishes the black and white portrait of Hamed Bakayoko, hands joined, underlining that "
Côte d'Ivoire and Africa mourn the Golden Boy
".
Le Patriote
does not think he writes so well, since, as the magazine
Enjeux Africains points out
, "
Congolese music loses a great patron
".
Revelations on the last two months of Hamed Bakayoko's life
And then these revelations on the last two months of Hamed Bakayoko's life.
Where we take the measure of the incredible speed of progression of the evil which finally won.
These last moments of the life of the late, the Ivorian Prime Minister, it is his friend Marwane Ben Yamed who tells them in
Jeune Afrique
.
In a long and emotional story, the director of this pan-African publication testifies both to his pain, but also to his amazement and his conviction, beyond doubt.
Thus, during the last end-of-year celebrations spent with his family in Assinie, a posh Ivorian seaside resort, Hamed Bakayoko "
plunged into the ocean every morning, delighted in grilled fish that he devoured in his own way, gulping down large portions.
», Relates
Jeune Afrique
.
So it was exactly ten weeks ago!
In January, his state of health worsened, with “
these damn blows of the bar
”, states this newspaper to which, at the end of January, Hamed Bakayoko confides: “
What is strange is that Nestor fell ill at the same time as me. , we thought of a malaria crisis.
He lost more than ten kilos
”.
Nestor is his butler.
"
Both eat the same foods
,"
reports
Young Africa
, wondering if the Prime Minister would have "
been poisoned
."
But even if he mentions it, Marwane Ben Yamed, on reading it, clearly does not believe this rumor.
And rather admit that it is a "
metastasized liver cancer, in terminal phase
" which so quickly got the better of his friend Hamed, for whom "
the experts
" at his bedside said he was "no
longer operable,
even less transportable
”.
Last Saturday, March 6, however, Hamed Bakayoko will be "
transferred to Germany for experimental treatment
", soberly completes
Jeune Afrique
.
Revelations that go wrong on the spot, in Abobo and Séguela, the two Ivorian strongholds of Hamed Bakayoko
Two municipalities, the first of which he was mayor, the second, his hometown, of which he had just been re-elected deputy, which are now "
in-con-so-la-bles!"
»,
Launches the headline of the government newspaper
Fraternité Matin.
Inconsolable?
Certainly, but not only… According to the headline of the newspaper
Notre Voie
, close to the FPI of Pascal Affi N'Guessan, “
the angry populations are ransacking everything in Séguela
”.
Close to ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, that of the daily
Le Temps
does not write anything else.
As soon as the news of HamBak's death was announced, Séguéla "
boiled up
", reports this newspaper, the streets of the city were "
invaded
" and we could hear "
words not eloquent to the against the Head of State.
And even shirt with Alassane Ouattara effigy was publicly fired by the inhabitants of Séguéla
"
,
states
The Times
.
New president of CAF
Finally, the African Football Confederation.
Today the new president will be appointed by acclamation in Rabat, Morocco, during the CAF General Assembly.
Except coup de Théâtre, we know who it is:
Patrice Motsepe.
Surprise candidate four months ago, the South African billionaire is alone in the running, his three competitors, the Senegalese Augustin Senghor, the Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya and the Ivorian Jacques Anouma having announced the withdrawal of their candidacies.
"
The carrots are cooked
", launches
Foot Africa
, and this menu leaves this website on its hunger because it is "
tasteless
", insofar as the South African only declared candidate, "
will be crowned by acclamation
".
All under the watchful eye of the President of the International Football Federation, Gianni Infantino "
who has made Africa, with his face uncovered, his pre-square
",
lumberjack
Foot Afrique
.
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